


Bounty Hunter

by Kylo_Rens_Slashed_Face (Tauntaun_Logistics)



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:55:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23078197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tauntaun_Logistics/pseuds/Kylo_Rens_Slashed_Face
Summary: Force-sensitive bounty hunter Ben Solo captures Poe Dameron, his childhood friend. Have their paths diverged too far to reconnect again?
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19
Collections: The Kylo|Ben x Poe Fanworks Exchange 2020





	Bounty Hunter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [perlaret](https://archiveofourown.org/users/perlaret/gifts).



> Prompt: Bounty Hunter
> 
> According to the Poe Dameron Flight Guide, Poe has a First Order bounty on his head of (pre-TFA) 500,000 credits. One assumes it can only have gone up from there after blowing up Starkiller.
> 
> Timeline divergence where Poe still ended up in the Resistance, and Ben Solo ended up a Force-sensitive bounty hunter with a grudge against the Resistance. Which will triumph: love or money?!

\-------------------

He was there to meet a spy.

Poe Dameron, Resistance pilot, recently promoted to commander for his daring and perseverance at the battle of Starkiller Base, donned civilian clothing as he made his way through the twisty, mostly deserted streets. Snow swirled in the air, dense and shimmering in the amber street lights as dusk set in. He kicked a drift of snow as he trotted up a stone staircase. 

He turned into a blind alleyway, lowering the fur-lined hood of his jacket and after quickly checking that no one was watching, he slipped into a hidden doorway that was nothing more than a hole in the wall.

Incense haze and alcohol scented air warmed his senses as he entered a stone-walled hallway into what the local underworld denizens called the Smuggler’s Den, a secret meeting spot where thieves, bounty hunters, and of course, smugglers, could gather to drink and deal. 

He’d been here before, done many dealings here. Usually in an unofficial capacity. He knew many ‘associates’ on Kijimi — less-than-savory people. But sometimes the less-than-savory people were the most useful people to know. They’d be willing to do things that the straight-laced Resistance members would find disdainful. But if it got the job done, if it helped to beat back the forces of evil, then Poe reckoned it was worth it. 

His current mission was also off the records. A First Order spy had contacted him and told him they had information that could prove vital in defeating the First Order: the schematics for a new Mega Star Destroyer. These plans could potentially reveal any weaknesses of the new warships. The spy had refused to send the plans via radio transmission for fear of the message being intercepted. They refused to say who they were or give Poe any description to recognize them by, and had instructed Poe to wait at the bar and they would find him. 

Poe scanned the moderately crowded room. Small groups of figures, mostly human, but some other humanoid and non-humanoid species as well, bent over tables in hushed conversation. Some patrons seemed to be here just to socialize and have a drink, and were brazenly chatting and laughing.

He began to make his way to the bar when he noticed a Trodatome speaking to a dark-haired man. However, what drew his attention was not the large, yellow, limbless alien, but his companion: A tall, pale man with jet black hair falling to his broad shoulders. He wore a dark shirt and a drab jacket that had seen better days. He appeared as unassuming as any of the other occupants of the Den. 

The pit of Poe's stomach went ice cold. A memory from long ago. A childhood friend. Someone he’d thought he would never see again. Ben Solo. 

He looked different now, as he'd been only sixteen the last time Poe had seen him. But Poe knew without a doubt that it was Ben. He also knew that Ben Solo was wanted by the Resistance for multiple counts of murder.

He almost turned heel right then and left. His gut told him that he couldn’t do what his duty and loyalty to the Resistance required of him. 

Ben hadn’t noticed him. Poe positioned himself at the bar so that he could still see Ben out of the corner of his eye. He had to gather his thoughts quickly, he couldn’t wait. He didn’t want to jeopardize his meeting with the First Order spy, but how could he let Ben Solo slip away when he had him within arms reach? 

He wanted to confront Ben for more than one reason. He hadn’t believed General Leia Organa when she told him that he had destroyed the Jedi Temple and caused the deaths of her brother, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and his fellow Jedi students. He had to hear it from Ben’s mouth before he would believe it. This environment was not ideal for delving deep into their past relationship or the possible confessions of heinous crimes. But if he left without confronting Ben, he would regret it. 

Poe readied his blaster hidden under his coat. The room was sufficiently occupied that he could make his way around behind Ben without him or the Trodatome becoming suspicious. 

Passing nonchalantly behind Ben’s stool, Poe pressed the blaster to his ribs. "Long time. Miss me?” 

Ben stiffened and without looking at him, said, "Hello, Dameron."

"Did you call me _Dameron?_ Come on, old buddy, you're not one for formalities," Poe said. 

Ben sighed, sipping his drink, "And you're not here to capture me. _Old buddy_." He turned to face Poe, tilting his head and giving a wry smile. Ben’s gaze distracted him for a moment — he hadn’t seen Ben in a decade. He searched Ben’s face for any trace of the kid he’d known back then. Poe's hesitation gave Ben sufficient time to snatch the blaster from his hand. 

Poe chuckled to himself, _Stupid! What was I thinking?_

“What _were_ you thinking?” Ben said, setting Poe’s blaster on the table. The Trodatome’s eyes widened at the sight of the blaster, and making a distressed noise, it conspicuously shuffled away.

Ben said to it, “Don’t go too far, we still have business.” He motioned Poe to join him. 

Poe pulled a stool into the spot vacated by the Trodatome. “So, no hard feelings, right? It was a joke, just like old times? Or have you lost your sense of humor? Mind if I-” He reached for the blaster. Ben clenched his hand and the blaster crumpled. 

“Okay.” Poe withdrew his hand. “So you have lost your sense of humor, got it.”

"Yes, I no longer think that it's funny when my friends threaten to kill me," Ben said somberly. 

"So, we are still friends! Good to know!"

Ben took another drink from his greenish-blue concoction. “What brings you to this miserable corner of the galaxy, Dameron? Are you recruiting? The Resistance that desperate?"

Poe ran his fingers through his hair, still looking around for his contact. “Well, you know, top-secret Resistance stuff.”

Ben nodded. “Sure, top secret. So you weren't looking for me?”

“No and hopefully running into you hasn’t mucked everything up.”

Ben narrowed his eyes. “You wouldn’t know a trap if it slapped you in the face.”

“Wha-” 

Ben slapped him.

“Shit.” 

Ben smiled and plunked a palm-sized disk on the table. 

Poe knew it was a bounty chit, but asked anyway, silently chiding himself for being duped, "Don't tell me you're a bounty hunter?"

He tapped the top of the disk and a holo of Poe’s face appeared with ‘750, 000’ displayed at the bottom. Poe whistled, “Just for little me? Not too shabby, right?”

"It seems you are the First Order's number one enemy." Ben pocketed the bounty chit. 

Poe asked, "So you don't have the plans for the super ultra mega star destroyer?"

Ben sighed heavily. 

Poe nodded, _right_. 

Ben pushed his beverage over to Poe, who took a long swig.

"Okay, what happens now?" Poe said, the strong alcohol hitting him quickly.

Ben leaned forward. "I take you to the First Order and collect the biggest bounty ever put on a Resistance member."

Poe pondered his options. Ben had those crazy Force powers that Poe didn't fully understand and it would be futile to attempt to overpower him, so he decided to wait for a window of opportunity to get the upper hand. The window would be small and moving past at lightspeed, but he had an uncanny ability to attract strange luck. It wasn’t the best idea to lay one’s life into the fickle hands of Lady Luck, but it was all he had at that point. 

Ben nodded to someone across the bar. Poe turned to look. The Trodatome that had been talking to Ben nodded back at him. Ben grabbed Poe’s arm while his back was turned, clamping a metal cuff on Poe's wrist and the connecting cuff to his own wrist. Before Poe could kick himself for letting his guard down, Ben flipped the table, yanking him to the floor as he heard yelling and blaster fire.

A raid!

Several First Order stormtroopers had rushed in into the building, grabbing anyone within reach. 

"Did you do this? You did this, didn't you? You're working for the First Order!" Poe accused Ben.

"Why would I have done this?" Ben shouted over the mayhem, “If they capture you, I lose the bounty!”

"Right," Poe agreed. "Good point." He peered over the upturned table. "I could use a blaster right about now. "

Ben handed him his crushed blaster. 

“Thanks,” Poe said, throwing it aside. 

Ben thrust his hand at the wall and the stones exploded out as if hit by a grenade. They made their escape, the hole in the stone wall collapsing behind them. Ben zigzagged along the back alleys, dragging Poe with him. The shouts of stormtroopers came from behind them, but Poe didn’t take a second to look back to see if they were pursuing. 

Ben towed Poe to a beaten-up old gunship that appeared to have been in more than a few fire-fights.

The junker offended Poe’s pilot sensibilities in every way, from the mismatched engines to the obvious slapdash repairs. “Wow, you do need that bounty, this ship is about to fall apart! Let’s take mine.”

“I can’t leave my ship here. The First Order will confiscate it.” Ben said, dragging Poe aboard. 

“I can’t leave mine here, either. They’ll trace it back to the Resistance Base.” Poe dug his heels into the ramp. 

“Just get in!” Ben pulled him into the ship, clamping the other cuff onto Poe’s other wrist so that his hands were secured behind his back, and shoving him into the passenger seat. “Where’s your X-Wing?” Ben asked, starting the engines. The ship rattled as it lifted from the ground. 

“By those cliffs.” Poe indicated the direction with his head. When Poe’s black X-Wing came into view, Ben blasted it with his ship’s forward cannon. 

Poe watched in horror as a billow of flame swallowed his pride and joy. “Why did you do that?!!!?” 

“Two can’t fit in an X-Wing and I had to keep the First Order from tracing it back to your base somehow,” Ben said as if he was doing Poe a favor.

“Two can fit — if we get cozy. And, this, this is a piece of junk. You can buy a brand new ship with the bounty reward.” Although his protests at this point were fruitless. 

Flipping a panel of switches then drawing back the throttle, Ben said, “This one has...sentimental value," as the ship shot into lightspeed.

They had been traveling for several minutes when Poe said, staring out the front viewport at the kaleidoscope of space and stars bending around them, "They're going to find our base anyway."

"What?" Ben eyed him. 

Poe shifted, finding it hard to get comfortable in the chair with his hands manacled behind his back. "They're going to torture me until I tell them. They have a Force-user in their ranks that can just rip thoughts right out of your head — it's not pleasant. The Resistance is doomed. I know you hate the Resistance and your mother and-"

"I don't hate her," Ben snapped, "or my father, but they don't think too highly of me. Want to know the last thing he said to me? That he didn't think he ever wanted to see me again." 

"That's...rough, but please don't do this just to spite them," Poe said. 

Ben put the bounty chit on the console and lit it, waving a hand at the bounty reward.

"Is that all it takes for you to be the one responsible for the destruction of the Resistance,” Poe said, disgusted. 

Ben snatched the chit and shoved it back in his vest pocket. "It's not on me what the First Order does."

Becoming infuriated, Poe shouted, “Turning me over to the First Order is going to result in the murder of thousands of people! Your parents! Your mother!” 

Ben shot up and grabbed Poe by the collar, yanking him out of the seat. Poe tried to knee him in the stomach, but Ben kicked his other leg out from under him and he toppled. Ben jabbed his knee into Poe's back and slammed his face into the floor grating. 

"I'm not a murderer!" Ben growled into Poe's ear. 

"You're a scumbag bounty hunter!" Poe spat. "You kill people for money!" 

"You kill people for ideals! What's worse?" Ben hissed. 

"We fight against oppression and evil!" 

"Because you think you're right." Ben leaned off of him. "But you're no better than I am."

Poe tried to sit up. “I’m not going to deny that I've done my share of questionable things. But I fight for the side of good.”

Filled with pain and anger, Ben laughed. “You fight for lies. There is no good side.”

“You didn’t use to feel that way. Before you left." Poe had gotten to a semi-sitting position, leaning against the wall

“I was young and foolish to believe in fighting for a futile cause,” Ben said, looking away. Poe bit his lip and took an opportunity to catch Ben off guard, kicking him square in the face. 

Ben fell backward, stunned, cradling his face. But, he recovered quicker than Poe had expected, cursing as he flung his arm out.

As he stood, Ben lifted him with the Force, pressing him firmly against the bulkhead. “You didn’t plan that one out, did you?” He touched the trickle of blood coming out of his nose. 

“I was trying to knock some sense into you,” Poe said, defiant. 

Ben twisted his outstretched hand into a claw. Poe felt the pressure on his chest tighten, restricting his breathing. He took heavy, painful gasps of air. 

“If you kill me, you won’t get paid — my bounty is alive only!” Poe choked out the words. 

Ben dropped him, clenching his fists as if trying to hold himself back. 

Poe caught his breath. He decided not to press his luck any further with Ben. The man standing over him right now was not the friend he knew so long ago. 

The ship shuddered violently. Ben rushed to the cockpit. He slammed his fist on the control panel as the ship shimmied, dropping out of lightspeed. 

"What happened?" Poe asked, alarmed; the ship felt like it was going to break apart. “Did we hit something?”

Ben shouted a string of curse words from a dozen languages, checking his instruments, pounding on the control panel. Ben went to the back of the ship, and Poe heard more pounding and clanging. “Power core’s busted,” Ben said, giving up on getting the ship to work. He flopped back into the pilot seat and checked the navigational charts.

Poe felt his odd kind of luck was oftentimes as beneficial as it was detrimental. This was one of those times. Without a power core, there was no lightspeed; without lightspeed, he had a chance to get away from Ben before he found a way to deliver him to the First Order. 

A First Order TIE fighter screamed past. 

_Or maybe not_ , Poe chuckled to himself. But the TIE fired on them. Because they had appeared without warning in the middle of First Order space, the patrolling TIEs probably thought it was a sneak attack.

Ben turned to Poe, and with a swift flick of his hand, Poe’s cuffs fell free of his wrists. “Take the rear gunner’s seat,” Ben ordered.

“You really think I'm going to help you?” Poe scoffed. 

“If you don’t, we’re both dead.” 

“I’m dead anyway, what do I care? At least this spares me from torture and keeps the Resistance base safe,” Poe said, refusing to budge from the floor. 

Ben scowled but didn’t have time to argue, dropping into his seat. Poe watched as Ben gripped the controls, dodging the fire from the TIE fighter. His ship was not as maneuverable as the TIE, but he managed to flip the ship and fire on the TIE with his forward cannon. 

The ship shook again, causing the lights to flicker and a panel above Poe to fall open, sparks raining down on him. Two more TIEs swooped past. Ben jockeyed the ship deftly, a hard look of concentration on his face. 

The idea of his very real and very imminent demise finally hit Poe. All was not lost, not yet. He still had time to escape Ben or perhaps still convince him to not turn him over to the First Order. The Resistance still needed him. He couldn’t give up on them. Or his childhood friend.

He suddenly felt like it was his mission to bring Ben back to the Resistance. Someone with his abilities would be immeasurably useful. This turn of bad luck could actually be a blessing in disguise. 

He scrambled to the rear turret. Ben’s expert flying and Poe’s quick reflexes and skill in the gunner position proved an unbeatable team; they quickly dispatched the remaining TIEs. 

Ben met him as he climbed up the ladder. Poe sighed, expecting Ben to cuff him again. 

"I'll let you send a warning to your base before I turn you over,” Ben said and returned to the cockpit, wiping his bloodied nose on his palm. 

“So, that kick really did knock some sense into you.” Poe smirked, taking the co-pilot seat. 

As Ben promised, he let Poe send out a warning message to the Resistance. Ben was preoccupied with finding a place to fix his ship before more TIEs showed up, so Poe took advantage of not being closely monitored to include a coded message in the transmission, a way to track Ben's ship. They'd only be able to detect it within the same system. He didn't know what system he was in, so the likelihood of finding him was slim, but it was a chance, and he'd learned that any chance was better than none.

“The First Order isn’t gonna like what we did back there,” Poe said after sending the message, still hoping that Ben could still have a change of heart.

“You think?” Ben muttered, unamused, leaning over the navigation panel.

“Maybe you can ask them to take the cost to replace those TIEs out of your reward,” Poe said.

Ben shot his finger at him. “Maybe you can shut up.” 

Poe shut up. 

Being a wise-ass wasn't worth having his lungs crushed. 

“Alright, we’re near a refueling station. I'll have to find a power core,” Ben told him. 

The system, while occupied by the First Order, hadn’t been subsumed by it, so it was still something of a wild space. 

As Ben plugged in the coordinates, Poe tried a more serious angle. “The First Order is taking control of more and more systems. Their government is just as oppressive as the Empire was.”

Ben barely acknowledged Poe's statement.

Poe persisted, “You abandoned everyone. We could use your help. You shouldn't be squandering your powers out here as a bounty hunter.”

“Shouldn’t I?” Ben glared at him. “I have no obligation to you or anyone. I didn’t ask for this power and I didn’t want it.”

Frustrated, Poe said, “But you have it. Do you know what I would give to have what you have? I don’t understand how you can just sit by and see all this suffering, and do nothing!”

Ben huffed, “If I could give you all my power, I would! Because it is a curse, not a blessing!” He stormed into the back of the ship.

Poe went after him. He was close to breaking through to Ben, he could feel it. He found Ben sitting on his bed, head down holding something small and cylindrical in his hand. 

“I didn’t abandon anyone,” Ben said without looking up. “My parents were heroes to the galaxy; my uncle, a Jedi; I never had an opportunity to say no. It was like a path I was destined to take. At ten, my mother said I would be as great a Jedi as Luke or my Grandfather. I guess I felt I couldn’t let her down.”

Poe recognized the object in Ben’s hands, a lightsaber, the weapon of a Jedi. He’d seen Ben using the weapon when he had started to learn the ways of the Force.

Poe had gotten to see him several times while Ben was training to be a Jedi. And snuck off once when Luke Skywalker was visiting his sister, Ben’s mother, General Leia Organa on Yavin IV and “borrowed” an X-wing, taking Ben on a ride over the lake. Even though he hadn’t flown above the treeline, the general had gotten furious at Poe. They were both teenagers then, and he hadn’t seen Ben since that day. He’d always thought it was his fault that Ben never came to visit again. But then he had heard...heard what happened. 

The memory made Poe’s eyes prick with wetness. He sat next to Ben on the bed.

"Ben, when you — when I heard what happened at the Jedi Academy, I couldn't believe it," Poe said.

"Then why did you? You were so quick to condemn me, but didn't give a second thought to sending me to my death." Ben looked up, and Poe could see the wetness in his eyes as well. For a flash, he could see in those shimmering eyes the friend he dearly missed.

“If it's not true, tell me,” Poe insisted, touching Ben’s shoulder. Ben reacted to the touch by grasping Poe’s arms and flipping him down on the mattress. Ben stared at him for a long, silent moment, studying his face as if trying to remember his features.

“I’m starting to think you just like pinning me against things,” Poe grinned.

As if woken from a trance, Ben released him. “It was all wrong, Poe. They blamed me, hunted me, tried to kill me because of something I didn’t do. I had nowhere to go...I... I went to Snoke because I had nowhere to go.”

“Snoke?” Poe’s brow knitted. “The Supreme Leader of the First Order?” 

“I didn’t join the First Order, you have to believe me.” Ben's voice was earnest and pleading. “Snoke sent me to the Knights of Ren, but they were just as fanatical as the Jedi. Nothing but a pack of brutes, killing anyone they pleased. They didn’t think I was worthy of their little club, anyway. I refused to be like them and I had to run from them, too. I decided I wanted to be in control of my life. I didn’t want anyone to determine my future. Not my parents; not Luke Skywalker; not the Knights of Ren; not even the Force.”

“Come home.” Poe touched Ben’s shoulder again, and this time Ben let him.

“I can’t. Do you think that the Resistance won't put me in front of a firing squad?” 

“We’ll talk to your mother, she’ll believe you,” Poe insisted.

“No,” Ben said. “My father didn't. She won’t either.”

“Ben…” Poe wanted to reassure him, to hug him, but Ben pulled away.

Ben wiped his eyes and settled into the cockpit. He didn’t say a word as he navigated to the fueling station that was orbiting a small moon. Once docked, Ben clipped his saber to his belt, and once again cuffed his wrist to Poe’s. 

“Where am I gonna go? I have no ship and this is a space station,” Poe protested, but to no avail, resigned to let Ben drag him around by the arm.

They entered the bazaar section of the station. Poe glanced around. A few heads turned in his direction. Some in old Storm Trooper armor. These were mostly Empire supporters. He felt uneasy. Even though Kijimi was inhabited by criminals, at least they were criminals that were not friendly to the enemy side. This crowd, while still mostly scrambling to make their own way in the galaxy, would have no qualms about shooting a Resistance member for little more than First Order cachet. 

Poe was genuinely worried for his safety. He knew this journey would likely end in his execution, and he wasn’t eager to get to that, but he feared he’d end up with a missing limb or two in this place. 

“Can we please hurry,” Poe urged.

“Why the rush? Want a last drink?” Ben nodded towards a shady-looking drink vendor -- both the vendor and drinks looked shady. 

“I don’t want to think about my impending doom at all, so I don’t really want a 'last' anything,” Poe said. Ben smiled and had a shot of whatever vile ship fuel the vendor was trying to pass off as potable.

After they had found a used power core and were heading back to the ship, Ben told him without even glancing at him, “I don’t want to turn you in. I want you to join me.”

Poe shook his head, he could never take up the bounty-hunter lifestyle, could never approve of it, and could never stop fighting against the First Order as long as it existed and as long as he breathed. 

“I-” Poe was cut off by a large orange Lasat stepping in front of them. 

The Lasat growled, “Hold it!” flicking a bounty chit in Poe’s face, comparing it to the blue holo, which also happened to be Poe’s face. 

Ben held up his hand that was cuffed to Poe’s, and started to say, “I’ve already got him you dumb lug! Get out of-” but then noticed the bounty reward for Poe displayed on the chit: 2,000,000. 

“I know you, too,” the Lasat chuckled menacingly. “You’re wanted by the Resistance. Two for one! Ha! Ha!”

By then, they had attracted a circle of onlookers, anticipating a fight. Ben waved his fingers over his saber to let the Lasat know that he wasn’t one to be messed with. 

The Lasat tapped the blaster on his belt. “I tell you what, you give me the pilot, and I’ll forget I saw you.”

“No deal,” Ben's saber was in his hand and lit before Poe could blink. And before the Lasat could blink as well, who stood there stunned for a moment with a glowing aqua blade an inch from his nose. 

The Lasat grinned. “Oh, you think you're a Jedi?" He raised his blaster, not backing down. "No need for violence then, right?” 

"I'm no Jedi!" Ben raised his saber to strike.

Poe lunged forward, holding his hand up. "Whoa whoa whoa! We can talk this over!"

Poe had gotten close enough, and as the Lasat was distracted, he grabbed the blaster, knocking the Lasat to the ground with a kick behind the knee. “You’re right, no need for violence.”

Ben inhaled and exhaled, calming himself. Then lowered his saber, still keeping it pointed at the Lasat. The bounty hunter didn't attempt to get up.

The crowd, who had been eager to watch a fight, were not interested in being part of one and quickly parted to allow Ben and Poe through when Ben brandished his saber at them. They ran back to Ben’s ship and departed the docking bay with haste. Although no one seemed to be chasing them, they didn't want to take a chance that the Lasat may have friends that would come after them.

Ben found an uninhabited moon to land on, and in the nick of time, too, as the ship began to shake apart as they entered the lower-atmosphere. After making a harrowing landing on the barren and rocky terrain, Ben and Poe went out to inspect the ship. It was nighttime where they had to make the emergency landing, and too dark to make the repairs. They would have to wait until morning. 

“We should get some rest,” Ben suggested. 

“You trust me enough to fall asleep in front of me?” Poe smirked.

“I didn’t say sleep, I said rest.” Ben reclined on the narrow bed, his hands behind his head. “But you can sleep if you want.”

Poe looked around. There were no other areas that could be used as a bed. “Oh? Where? Two won’t fit on that.”

Ben raised his eyebrows playfully, “Two will fit -- if we get cozy.”

—————————————— 

The next morning, Poe helped Ben install the new power core and make other essential repairs. They seemed to be in tune with each other as if they had been working together like this their entire lives. Poe wished that their lives could have followed paths that kept them together. 

They finished the repairs as the sun lowered toward the horizon, casting a rose light on the white landscape. Poe handed Ben’s tools back to him, standing a little closer than most people would find comfortable with casual acquaintances. Poe smiled as their fingers lightly brushed when he passed Ben the vibro-spanner.

Ben's pupils dilated. And Poe, recognizing the sign of attraction, kissed him. 

Ben returned in kind, leaning into the kiss, then pulled back and turned away, flushed as if embarrassed, returning the tools to their compartment. 

The stillness of the desolate environment was interrupted by a distant sound of vehicles. Ben grabbed his quadnocs and scanned the horizon. 

Before Ben spotted them, Poe realized who was approaching and his heart sank. “I'm sorry, Ben! This wasn’t my intention. They’re not coming for you, just to rescue me!” 

“Those are Resistance speeders! How did you—” Ben exclaimed.

“When I sent the message, I encoded your ship’s hyperdrive signature. At the fueling station, someone must have alerted the Resistance, otherwise, they wouldn’t have found us so fast. I’m sorry, I really am,” Poe said, hoping Ben believed him. 

Ben looked back over to the horizon...then to the ground...then slowly back to Poe. From the hurt look on his face, Poe thought for sure Ben would fly into a rage and accuse him of betraying him. But he didn’t. He gave Poe a hug, a quick kiss, and one last plea, “Come with me.” 

Poe shook his head, heartbroken and torn. “You know I can’t abandon the Resistance.”

“Why not? It’s a lost cause, and you know it,” Ben said.

Poe turned, the sounds the speeders were getting louder. Damn, not enough time for a proper goodbye. Ben believed he could never come back, that even though he was innocent of the crimes which drove him away from his family, his home, his friends, he would likely never be able to prove it at a trial. Even if he stood a chance at being absolved, Poe didn’t have time right then to convince him. 

“I can’t. I’m sorry,” Poe said again. 

“I’ll be around if you change your mind.” Ben smiled, slipping a small object into his hand, their fingers briefly touching before parting. Poe nodded.

As Ben boarded his ship, Poe looked at the object Ben had given him. His bounty chit. 

He called after him, “Maybe I’ll consider it if you get rid of this scrap-heap!” 

“I told you, it has sentimental value.” The door to his ship closed and he flew into the sunset. 

As the Resistance speeders came into full view, Poe clicked the chit that Ben had given him. A holo flickered, but it wasn't Poe's face. In his hand rotated the plans for the First Order's new Mega Star Destroyer. _Sneaky scoundrel._ He smiled. Perhaps his old friend had found something--or someone--worth fighting for after all. 

Poe watched the tiny silhouette of Ben's ship fade into the golden-red horizon before turning upwards, finally disappearing into the approaching night.

\-------------------

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first gift-exchange fic. @perlaret I hope you liked it! <3


End file.
